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| - I've been visiting this restaurant for dinner for many years on and off, and the one consistent thing about the place is the kitchen's performance. Typical with many "Chinese Seafood Cuisine" restaurants, many items are customized/off-menu, so for non-Chinese speakers this may be a tough place to order from and to get what you're expecting. If you know the manager, there's often more service and dessert on the house - same can be said if you're close with any other restaurants, so no surprise there.
The most recent time I visited was a family gathering of 10 - a typical large table for a Chinese dinner. In these situations, it's always ideal to order your menu days in advance - but this requires calling in and speaking to a manager, or visiting yourself a few days earlier and discussing in person. If you're green to this kind of process - come in. It will allow you to try their regular menu items and give you a sense of the pricing - custom menus mean the prices are ALL SEASONAL. On average, I would say your meal starts at about $30 per person, and increases with more seafood and delicacies your order. To avoid dispute, be up front about the occasion and your limits - be frank about "don't want to spend too much" and "just a regular dinner, no special occasions".
Friday dinner featured a four-pound deep sea bass (???) prepared two ways, hand-basted crispy roast chicken (?????), greens with mushroom variety, fish belly thick soup (?????), and beef brisket with chestnuts casserole. The fish was the highlight of the meal, and it was everything we promised. Filets were tossed with fresh veggies and the other parts were battered and fried, similar to when found in other Chinese fish casseroles. Fish was flavourful and the texture was excellent, and importantly it actually felt like we got our full weight of the four pounder as promised. The crispy chicken is a signature here, and typically requires preordering. The other dishes were standard, nothing disappointing but not much to write about.
For dessert we had an interesting progression - house dessert was a purple rice and tapioca hot sago - I highly recommend skipping it. It felt watered down and flavourless despite its appearance. Instead we got hot tapioca baked puddings - usually available during the day as part of dim sum, but if the kitchen isn't busy they can make them to order at dinner too. Lotus paste us generously layered between the tapioca pudding, making a rich dessert that itself isn't too sweet, with a gooey, bread pudding-like texture. We wrapped up with sesame filled rice balls (tongyuan) in syrup - a simple dessert that can also be made to order.
The bill came out to about $330 before tips for a table of ten, and we were more than satisfied. The volume of food was sufficient, though may feel underwhelming at first if you've got lots of big eaters. Presetting our menu made for a smooth night, and it wasn't too busy a night meaning the kitchen was accommodating of our special dessert requests.
The one thing that's a downer on this place is that a lot of prices are subjective - they start with a seasonally determined ballpark, and get marked up/down based on custom specifications and how well you know the manager. This is unfortunately more commonplace than some of us may believe - having a full listed menu with accurate price tags is unrealistic because so much variety exists, on top of customizable options and the use of seasonal ingredients. If you're looking for unique and authentic complex Chinese dishes, and don't care too much about price, this could be your spot! The quality of food and the variety are good - and they are an honest kitchen that will give you your money's worth. For a simple Chinese dinner meal, the prices are reasonable for the ambiance.
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